Man admits trying to return 10,000 nonrefundable cans

MICHIGAN - A Genesee County man admitted Friday that he tried to return more than 10,000 nonreturnable bottles in Michigan.

Brian Edward Everidge, of Columbiaville, pleaded guilty in Livingston County Circuit Court in Howell to one count of beverage return of nonrefundable bottles.

He faces up to five years in prison when he is sentenced Nov. 3.

Authorities said Everidge was driving a Budget box truck around 10 p.m. April 27 on northbound U.S. 23 near Faussett Road in Tyrone Township when a Michigan State Police motor carrier officer stopped him for doing 72 mph.

The speed limit for vehicles weighing 10,000 pounds or more is 60 mph.

The motor carrier officer testified at an earlier hearing that he found the box truck “packed” with clear plastic bags containing aluminum cans and bottles, which Everidge admitted he picked up in Lexington, Kentucky.

“He said his intent was to return them; he just didn’t say where he was going to return them,” Motor Carrier Officer Clifford Lyden testified, noting that the defendant also acknowledged he was hoping to receive “deposit (money) he did not pay.”

According to Michigan’s Beverage Containers Act, a person cannot return or attempt to return to a dealer a beverage container the person knows was not purchased in Michigan as a filled returnable container.